Beautiful butterflies
We had a lovely surprise on Tuesday morning when we returned to Nursery; we had a butterfly that had emerged from its chrysalis. There was a lot of interest in the butterfly house. We talked about the life cycle of a butterfly and what we needed to do next to look after the butterflies. Children helped to feed the butterflies with an orange and left over fruit from snack time.
Children enjoyed watching as their wings opened out and they began to fly around in the butterfly net. The sunny weather on Friday was perfect for releasing our butterflies before the weekend. It was lovely to watch them fly away and one landed on some flowers in one of our pots so we got to watch it for a little bit longer.
Next week’s learning:
We’ll learn about shapes next week and will be looking for shapes all around us.
Sound of the week – Z for zebra
Nursery rhyme of the week – Jack and Jill
3,4A Class News
Last week in Science, we had planted dwarf sunflower seeds. This week, we used a ruler to measure their progress! We learnt about the function of the stem, taking water to other parts of the flower, and predicted what would happen if we added blue dye to the water some flowers stood in. As most of us predicted, the white flowers started to turn blue.
In Topic, we are coming to the end of our Explorers unit and have been finding out the effects of overtourism on Venice. We are busy producing a double-page spread in our books to showcase what we know.
In Writing, we have been practising using inverted commas so that we can include direct speech in our narratives next week. We are basing these on a book called FLOOD. The children have come up with some fantastic adjectives to make their pieces descriptive.
Help at home by continuing to listen to your child read daily, practising spellings from the spelling list and helping your child to access TTRS. These things all have a noticeable impact on learning – thank you for your support!
3,4 C Class News – Geography
In Geography, we have been advisors to the Mayor of Venice. We have considered the problems caused by over-tourism in Venice such a crowds of people at places of interest and the noise pollution created. We have discussed the possible solutions to solve each problem.
Help at home by asking your child about the decisions they made.
Farmyard Hullabaloo
It has been a fun-filled farm themed week!
We have continued our learning on our topic Life on Earth, by exploring animals that may live and work on a farm.
We began our week by reading Farmyard Hullabaloo.
Farmer Time
We had a very exciting video call with a farmer named Luke. The children were very eager to find out about Luke, his animals, and life on a farm.
On the call, we learnt about Farmer Luke’s farm and what types of jobs he does. We even got to join him on a drive to see his neighbour’s cows!
The children confidently asked their questions and listened carefully to his answers.
What is it like being a farmer? Charlotte
What jobs do you do? Sienna
How loud are you animals? Liezah
How do you plant seeds? Norah
What tractor do you have? Albert
Butterflies
Everyone was very excited to see the newly hatched butterflies on Monday morning. The children enjoyed observing them closely and looking at the details on their wings and bodies.
By the afternoon, it was time to release them outside. It was wonderful to watch them fly around our wildflower garden and some children also had the opportunity to hold them.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called The Fox.
Phonics
This week we have focused on reading root words with the suffix ing, ed and est.
plumpest swimming melted helped
We’ve learnt the tricky words; out and today.
Help at home- Please continue to work through the weekly learn at home phonics sheets. We’ll continue to send these home each Friday.
Reminders
Sun cream – Please remember to bring in a labelled sun cream, ready for those hot spring days. As your child will need to independently apply their sunscreen, please practise this at home.
Thursday 23 May – Farmyard Festival: (Letter sent home) Please don’t go to the expense of buying anything new – creative adaptations of something you’ve already got will be fantastic. Outfits need to be suitable for school, safe and warm/cool enough to be worn all day.
Friday 24 May- School Closed: Training Day
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Sunshine– 22 May
Walk to School Week
Next week is ‘Walk to School Week!’
Can you support us and our local community by leaving your car at home? We are setting the children the challenge of walking to school for 5 days. In class, they will sign a pledge and collect stickers over the week for each day they walk. Each child will receive an activity book with fun tasks to complete at school too. If you live far away and need to travel by car, try leaving your car at St Phillips church in Scholes or at The Buffers pub and walk the rest of the way.
Good luck – get walking!
1A-PE
Our PE game this half term is ‘Hulk Smash.’ Through this game we are working on many of our fundamental movement skills. These include: running, jumping, throwing and catching. We are also developing our awareness of rules and tactics when we play this game too. It is fun to play and the sunshine adds to our enjoyment too!
1A enjoyed a little ‘cool down’ time in our wildflower garden after our PE session.
Science-Plants and Trees
We have found so much joy in watching our seeds grow. You may have noticed lots of plants dotted around our school grounds. Each class have provided ‘the right’ conditions for our seeds to grow. We are currently growing: strawberries, beans, peas, mint, chive and willow.
This week we have all been on a field walk to identify deciduous and ever green trees/plants. We used a key to help us look at the leaves and identify the name of the tree. We then thought about if the leaves were waxy and spiky. These two elements often indicate an evergreen plant.
Photo credit: 1A pupils.
Help at home: Can your child tell you what a seed needs to grow? Can they name the parts of a tree and plant?
Living and Learning – 5-a-day
In Key Stage One (KS1) we are always learning about ways to keep our bodies healthy. Sleep, exercise and diet are huge factors. This week we have focused on the health benefits of eating five fruits or vegetables each day. The NHS website has top tips for making sure you are eating the right amount to class as one portion.
Help at home: Why not help your child to make a healthy ‘food swap’. Could a packet of crisps be swapped for an apple (especially on the days that you haven’t yet eaten 5-a-day?)
Wildflower garden – a place for mindfulness
We have been able to enjoy our new wildflower garden area today. It is a space for reflection, enjoying nature and being peaceful.
Thank you to the Garforth and District Lions for donating the benches too.
Tiny tadpoles
Have you seen the tadpoles in Nursery? Children are fascinated watching them wriggle and swim around the tank. We’ve been learning about the life cycle of a frog and know that the next stage in the cycle is for the tadpoles to grow back legs. We keep looking at them closely to check for signs of legs.
In maths, we’ve been singing ‘5 Little Speckled Frogs‘ and have been carefully counting how many frogs are left on the log after each verse.
How many frogs jumped into the pond? How many are on the log? If there are 3 frogs on the log, how many are there in the pond?
Our other learning and interests this week have included:
- Rolling tiny balls of playdough to balance on the suction cups and using the tools to roll the dough as flat as we can before using a cutter.
- Lots of physical activity including balancing and swinging!
- Making more cheesy pizzas in our role play area.
Next week’s learning:
We saw lots of insects this week and there was a lot of interest in a bee that we found. Children enjoyed looking at the wings and stripes closely on it using the magnifying app on an iPad. Next week, we’ll follow this interest and find out about bees and ladybirds.
Sound of the week – Y for yoyo
Nursery rhyme of the week – Ring-a-ring-a-roses